Louvered door construction or the like



s. c. POHLMAN LOUVERED 000R cous'mucnou OR THE LIKE July 1, 1958 Filed June 14, 1954 FIE! INVENT SALEM CZ POHL N A T TORNEVS LOUVERED DOOR CONSTRUCTION OR THE IZIKE Salem C. Pohlman, San Francisco, lCalifi, assignor, by-

,mesne ass gnments, to :Butfelen Woodworking 00., Tacoma, Wash, .a corporation of Washington Application June '14, 1954, Serial no. 436,437

2 Claims. (CI. 20-63) This invention r lates to a louvered door or similar construction, and more particularly to'means for hold ing the slats in such door.

.Louvered doors have heretofore been made emb dying wood slats s t d in s itable recesses formed directly in the supporting stiles of the door, or in wood inserts formed with slat receiving apertures and which are seated in the inner edges of the stiles.

Manufacturing apertures in the wood stiles or in wood inserts is a labor consuming and relatively expensive procedure. Furthermore, manufacturing these slat receiving apertures with exact dimensions to fit the slats tightly so that they are accurately fitted to obviate rattling when the door is opened or closed or when subjected to air currents, presents a problem, particularly in mass production on a commercial basis. Even if fitted tightly originally, the slats usually become loose and rattle upon shrinkage of the wood which occurs in time.

Summarizing the present invention, it is designed to overcome the above problems by the provision of an improved, simple and economical to manufacture construction for holding such slats firmly without rattling on a door or similar article such as a shutter. This is accomplished by seating in the inner edge of each of the opposed stiles or supporting members for the slats,

an insert extending longitudinally of each stile, and which is of non-cellulosic elastic material, such as relatively thin sheet metal which is flexible and resilient in the sense that material struck out from the insert to provide spaced slat receiving apertures, serves as fingers having sufiicient spring to provide a gripping action on the slats mounted in such apertures. Thus, the slats are gripped firmly at all times to thereby obviate rattling. At the same time, the construction is of such simplicity that it can be embodied in the door with minimum labor and cost.

Referring to the drawings, which for the purpose of illustration depict a so-called double louvered door but which is applicable to any doors or similar articles having one or any plurality of louvered sections:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a so-called double louvered door, with a portion broken away to disclose a detail of construction.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken in a plane indicated by line 22 in Fig. 1; the plane of the section also being indicated by line 22 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevation of the slat supporting insert of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary rear elevation of the same; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary isometric view of such insert, illustrating a gripped slat in phantom lines.

The door illustrated comprisesthe usual opposed parallel vertical Wood stiles 2 which provide main supporting members for the usual wood slats 3 extending horizontally of the door. Stiles 2 are secured to horizontal adhesive. A slat supporting'insert 6 of non-cellulosic 2,840,870 Patented July 1, 1958 elastic material is seated in the inner edge of each stile;

"In this connection, any suitable material may be emsuch as stainless steel, is equally applicable. Such material can be readily punch-pressed.

Insert 6 is channel shaped and comprises web portion 7 having spaced slightly inwardly slanting side flanges 8. It is positioned in a longitudinally extending channel shaped recess 9 of substantially the s'ame width as insert 6 and which is cut in the inner edge of each stile 2; the insert flanges 8 facing'inwardly. The sides of recess 9 slant inwardly at 10 from adjacent their outer edges. Such taper is complementary to the taper of flanges 8, to provide for firm seating of insert 6 in recess '9 with the outer face of web 7 substantially flush with the edge surface of the door and the inner edges of flanges 8 spaced from the bottom face 16 of recess 9.

A plurality of equally spaced obliquely arranged elongated slat receiving apertures 11 is formed in the web 7 of the insert for holding the ends of slats 3; the shape of each aperture conforming to the cross sectional shape of the slat held therein. Each of these apertures is formed by punch pressing to strike out material from the aperture and form integral resilient slat gripping fingers 12 projecting inwardly between side flanges 8. Each aperture 11 is bounded by elongated opposite side edges 13 and arcuate end edges 14; and the outer face of the web 7 is beveled inwardly at 16 all around side and end egdes 13 and 14 to provide for smooth entrance of the end of the slat into the aperture.

A slat gripping finger 12 is provided on each of the opposite side edges 13 of each aperture 11, and extends substantially half the length of the aperture with one finger at each end portion of the aperture. The width of each finger is substantially the width of the aperture as a result of striking out of material the full width of the aperture. The opposite fingers 12 of each aperture are slightly inclined inwardly toward each other to enhance gripping action on the slat; and as a result of the punching out of the fingers, their inner edges 17 are relatively sharp.

These relatively sharp edges 17 cooperate to prevent reverse retraction of slats projecting beyond edges 17. However, the slats need not project beyond such edges 17, as the inward slanting and resiliency of fingers 12 provide a tight grip to hold the slats firmly in position. Also, it will be noted that the terminal end portion 18 of each finger is bent or curved a slight distance partially about the arcuate end edge 14 of the aperture, which also enhances the gripping action on the slats.

In assembling the described arrangement on the door, this can be readily done by mounting the ends of slats 3 in the respective cooperating and opposite slat receiving apertures 11 of inserts 6; positioning the resultant assembly with inserts 6 in stile recesses 9; and securing stiles 2 to rails 4 in the usual manner. This makes a simple and economical method of assembly. The inserts 6 need not be otherwise secured in the door recesses 9 as they will be firmly held in position when the stiles and rails are fixedly secured together, as the ends of the inserts extend partially beyond the rails, as indicated at 19, and are consequently clamped between the stiles and the rails. Hence, no gluing or other securing of the inserts need be employed.

Because the slats are firmly gripped by the special gripping arrangement of gripping fingers 12, no rattling will occur irrespective of whatever normal shrinkage may later take place in the wood; and the inward slanting of fingers 12 provides a self locking effect. Should all the slats not be of precisely the same length, this is immaterial because the slats need not abut the face 10' of stile channel 9, as the space between'face 10' and web 7 of the insert, allows ample room for reasonable variation in the length of the slats. This also makes for economy of manufacture. that they do not contact faces 10' of the recesses. to allow projection of long slats beyond edges 17 of the fingers.

When the door and inserts are painted, the inserts will not show. Hence, after such painting, the construction of the present invention will present the same appearance as a conventional louvered door.

I claim:

l. A louvered door or the like comprising a'pair of opposed parallel wood stiles each having a longitudinally extending recess in its inner edge, a channel shaped slat supporting insert of relatively thin elastic metal mounted in each recess with the flanges of such channel projecting inwardly into and against the sides of the recess, the web of each channel being substantially flush with the inner edge surface of the associated-stile whereby upon paint- Also, the width of fingers 12 is suching of the door the inserts do not show, each of said inserts having spaced slat receiving apertures and a plurality of slat gripping fingers along the edges of each aperture and projecting inwardly between the flanges of each insert, the total area of the fingers adjacent each aperture being substantially equal to the area of such aperture, said fingers including oppositely disposed portions at each aperture whereby slats are firmly gripped by said oppositely disposed portions, and wood slats mounted in said apertures and firmly'gripped by said fingers.

2. The construction of claim 1 wherein the outer face of the web of each insert is beveled inwardly substantially completely about each aperture to provide smooth entrance of slat ends into the apertures.

References Cited the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,118,365 Loehler Nov. 24. 1914 2,102,156 Kalb Dec. 14, 1937 2,639,476 Davis May 26, 1953 2,724,264 Dart et a1 Mar. 22, 1955 2,740,654 Orschel Apr. 3, 1956 

